Brussels, 31 March 2025

A landmark agreement unveiled today could dramatically accelerate the rollout of renewable energy across Europe by addressing one of the sector’s biggest bottlenecks: local opposition. The new Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids [1] agreement brings together developers, local governments, civil society and industry to define a shared framework for building wind, solar and electricity grid projects more quickly and with stronger community backing.

The EU aims to reach 42.5% renewable energy by 2030, requiring massive investment, but permitting delays are widespread. Onshore wind projects still take over five years for approval, and large solar projects often face delays of four years on average in some countries, according to research [2]. Local objections [3] to issues such as project location, size, environmental impact, and lack of community benefits have long been a key hurdle, putting national and EU renewable energy targets at risk.

Now a new non-binding agreement calling for shared benefits for local communities—such as direct financial contributions, electricity discounts, or co-ownership schemes —as well as a commitment to collaborate with local businesses, bridges long-standing divides between developers and communities. The four-page document outlines common principles and criteria for stakeholders to consider a ‘fair’ way to develop energy infrastructure, offering a blueprint to resolve disputes that have slowed down or blocked many renewable projects.

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, which facilitated the negotiations on behalf of 2,500 local and regional governments, believes it’s a ‘game changer’ for the future of Europe’s energy landscape.

Arthur Hinsch, ICLEI Senior Expert, Sustainable Energy Systems, who facilitated the discussions, said: “All sides can finally point to commonly agreed principles around what is a fair way to build, hopefully avoiding the complex disputes that have held back renewables projects for years. It wasn’t easy to find consensus and the agreement isn’t binding, but there is so much for all sides to gain that we should soon see a surge in renewables and grid projects.”

Guy Willems, Advisor - Environment & Community Engagement at Wind Europe said: “A majority of Europeans support more wind energy and the EU has ambitious targets for wind energy expansion but we’re currently not building enough to reach them. So we need to speed up but we can’t do that without public support. It’s great that industry, civil society and local governments now came together in this initiative to reach an agreement that will further support public acceptance for renewables.”

Mario Rajn, Vice President of Energy Cities and Mayor of Križevci (Croatia) said: “Thanks to the Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids initiative, municipalities in Europe now have a reference framework to help them mediate among local stakeholders. The principles outlined here reflect the commitment of many companies, local governments and civil society organisations to addressing the root causes of local opposition to renewables, ensuring that the transition is fair, transparent, and benefits everyone.”

Seda Orhan, Renewable Energy Programme Manager at CAN Europe said: “Public support is make or break for the success of renewable energy projects. Transparent and continuous engagement from the start, together with fair sharing of benefits, can win the hearts and minds of local host communities. These new principles are a strong start. If implemented well, they will help to deploy solar, wind, and grids at speed and scale that genuinely benefit host communities, significantly boosting public backing.”

Dörte Fouquet, Director at European Renewable Energy Federation said: “We welcome the Fast & Fair Renewables & Grids Initiative as a crucial step toward fostering a collaborative approach between renewable energy developers, energy communities, civil society and nature protection associations. This joint effort aims to identify optimal ways for accelerating renewable energy deployment while ensuring the best possible respect for biodiversity and enhancing citizen engagement.”

The Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids agreement is available under embargo here [4]. When the embargo lifts, it will be published here: https://fastandfairenergy.eu [5]

Notes to editors:

Major interest groups signing the agreement include Climate Action Network Europe [6], the Council of European Municipalities and Regions [7], the European Environmental Bureau [8], Energy Cities, [9] the European Renewable Energy Federation [10], the European Youth Energy Network [11], ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability [12], Koop Wind [13], RESCoop.eu [14], Solar Power Europe [15], Wind Europe [16].

About Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids:

These baseline principles constitute the first European consensus on fairness between key sectors, and offer the involved stakeholders and municipalities a framework for facilitating renewable energy projects that are perceived as fair for all.

Ludovica Longo
ICLEI Europe Expert, Media - Strategic Communications, Membership & Advocacy
ludovica.longo@iclei.org [17]